Sermon Series: Wellness Habits

Join us for Worship Sundays at 10 AM

for a new Fall Worship Series

with Rev Dr Richard Chung

“5 Wellness Habits:

A Road to Personal Wholeness”

A road to personal wholeness requires consistent application of certain wellness habits on a daily basis. Following 5 habits and rules are based on the teachings of both Hebrew (Book of Jeremiah) and Greek (Gospel of Luke) Bible texts for the Fall of 2019. As a whole, if lived out consistently, they will help us to achieve a state of personal wellbeing and wholeness. So, let’s --- “Start Letting Go”, “Admit that You’re Lost”, “Watch the Sunrise and Sunset Everyday”, “Swim Against the Current”, and “Learn to Wait in Silence.”

September 8, 2019

Wellness Habit #1 “Start Letting Go”: “Pack Light & Travel Light”

Hebrew Text: Jeremiah 18:1-11, Greek Text: Luke 14:25-33

The state of personal wholeness is not an end point, a place or a destination we arrive at and be done with. It’s an ongoing journey that has no ending - a state of being and becoming. Along the way, we are being moulded and changed. The Prophet Jeremiah describes this on-going series of personal transformations with the relationship between the potter and the clay. The desire of the Potter is to shape the clay into most wonderful and beautiful work of art. So, the potter’s wheel never stops turning as his hands continue to mould the clay. God is the Potter and we are the clay. It’s best to let God shape us into someone whom he has conceived from the beginning; beautifully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139). God knows best. So, let God shape us! Let it go! A road to wholeness requires us to consistently live out a habit of letting go. Jesus said, “let it go” and “follow me.” We are all embarking on a long journey towards wholeness. “Pack light, --- so you can travel light.”

September 15, 2019

Wellness Habit #2 “Admit That You’re Lost”

Hebrew Text: Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28, Greek Text: Luke 15:1-10

Let’s admit it! We are all lost and in need of being found. We are all broken and in need of healing. We have all gone astray from the Source of wellbeing and find ourselves in deep hole. This state of being lost is a perennial condition we all share as human beings; inherited from our ancestors and we voluntarily participate over and over again (Bible describes this state of being lost, sin, which means missing the mark). We find this pattern of human pathology seen throughout in the history of ancient Israel people, as it is seen in our own life stories. We are all lost and in need of being found. No one is excluded from this awful human predicament. A road to home begins by voluntarily admitting that we are lost and in need of help. It’s the first and the biggest step we can take towards our personal wellbeing and wholeness. And we need to take this step over and over again, because we often get lost over and over again throughout our lives. So, let’s admit --- “Help! – I’m lost,” I need somebody!”

September 22, 2019

Wellness Habit #3 “Watch the Sunrise and Sunset Everyday”

Hebrew Text: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1, Greek Text: Luke 16:1-13

Life is more than a series of accomplishments and accumulation. But, often, we reduce our life and our worth as a person into a list of what we have done or not done and what we have accumulated or not. Our frame of reference and the goal in life are reduced into a narrow bandwidth of achieving success and accumulating Mammon. So, we lose the sight of what really matters in life. Instead of seeking meaning in life, we resolve to pursue happiness, a counterfeit god, as our main life goal and task, deceiving ourselves into believing that success and Mammon would lead us into a life of bliss. A way to personal wellbeing and wholeness requires us to broaden our vision; from narrow and tunnel vision to broad and panoramic vision. We need to start looking up and looking into far horizon – start watching sunrise in the morning and sunset in the evening. Beholding the beauty of creation all around us will lead us towards truth and goodness. If beauty is a path to truth (and the truth leads to goodness, which are the three hallmarks of God), watching sunrise and sunset will help us from a life of greed and hoarding into a life of wellbeing and wholeness. So, stop hoarding! And, start beholding the beauty! In the midst of hurried life, don’t forget to watch the sunrise and sunset, today and every day.

September 29, 2019

Wellness Habit #4 “Swim Against the Current”

Hebrew Text: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15, Greek Text: Luke 16:19-31

Life is a series of adventures we take. And our adventures demand us to take risks. One wise person (Jesus) once taught us that, life is found by travelling through the road less travelled. In the same spirit, a personal wholeness is only possible by travelling through the road less travelled, by going against the crowd – swimming against the current. Every great adventure in life; every worthwhile investing in life requires a personal sacrifice by risking one to go against the norm and conventional wisdom of the day. Like every salmon that swims against the current of river to bring new life, we take risks in venturing against the current to gain life and wholeness. So, don’t get tired “swimming against the current” - for God will raise you up on eagle’s wing (Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16)

October 6, 2019

Wellness Habit #5 “Learn to Wait in Silence”

Hebrew Text: Lamentation 3:19-26, Greek Text: Luke 17:5-10

We all have a spark of holiness; a seed of goodness in us. It’s just a spark, not an ember or a blaze nor a great ball of fire. It’s a seed, indeed, a smallest seed, however, with an endless potential. The universe began with just a small spark of energy with unlimited power. With a bang, it expanded and became an endless universe; with a simple speech, “let there be light”, the life filled the earth. Don’t waver. Don’t lose hope. Don’t give up. Faith means waiting. Faith will grow if we learn how to wait; waiting in silence, waiting through suffering, and waiting with hope. Wait in silence, for the mustard seed will eventually grow to be a largest tree in the forest. For those who know how to wait in holy anticipation, they will be rewarded with the Divine wholeness. Life is faithful to those who are faithful to Life. So, let’s “learn to wait in silence!”